What is Full-Stack Web Development?

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From the course by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express and MongoDB

240 ratings

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Server-side Development with NodeJS, Express and MongoDB

240 ratings

Course 5 of 5 in the Specialization Full Stack Web and Multiplatform Mobile App Development

This course deals with all things server-side. We base the entire course around the NodeJS platform. We start with a brief overview of the Web protocols: HTTP and HTTPS. We examine NodeJS and NodeJS modules: Express for building web servers. On the database side, we review basic CRUD operations, NoSQL databases, in particular MongoDB and Mongoose for accessing MongoDB from NodeJS. We examine the REST concepts and building a RESTful API. We touch upon authentication and security. Finally we review backend as a service (BaaS) approaches, including mobile BaaS, both open-source and commercial BaaS services. At the end of this course, you will be able to: - Demonstrate an understanding of server-side concepts, CRUD and REST - Build and configure a backend server using NodeJS framework - Build a RESTful API for the front-end to access backend services

From the lesson

Introduction to Server-side Development

In this module you will be introduced to Node, Node modules and the Node HTTP server. You will learn about the Express framework and how to set up a REST API using Express.

What is Full-Stack Web Development?6:28

Meet the Instructors

Jogesh K. Muppala
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering

[SOUND] What is Full Stack Web Development?

Let me clarify to you a few terms, so that we start with a common understanding

of Full Stack Web Development, as applied in this specialization.

We often hear people talking about the front end and the back end.

The front end is where we are delivering the content to the user

typically in a browser where the user accesses the information.

And this is where we use technologies like HTML, CSS and

JavaScript to render the content for the user.

This information delivery is supported behind

the scenes by a back end support which is typically

implemented these days using technologies like PHP Java,

ASP.NET, Ruby, Python, or Node.js.

We often hear people talking about the three tier architecture for

web development.

In this approach,

the entire web application is organized into three different layers.

The presentation layer,

which is concerned with delivering the information to the user.

So this is usually the UI related concerns that are dealt with at the presentation

layer issue.

The business logic layer, on the other hand, is concerned more about the data,

the data validation, the dynamic content processing,

and generating the content to be delivered to the user.

This is backed up behind the scenes with the data persistence layer or

the data access layer.

So this is concerned with how we store and interact with the data,

typically in the form of a database, and access this data through an API.

Exploring this further, let us see what is implemented typically

in the traditional web development in each of these three layers.

The business logic layer is usually implemented these days using

technologies like Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, C++, or ASP.NET.

This business logic layer is interacting behind the scenes,

with the persistent data, typically stored in relation to the database,

and accessed by the business logic layer.

The business logic layer is also concerned with the rendering of information

to the front side, typically the form of server-side rendering logistics.

So the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is generated on the server side and

then sent over to the client's side for their page.

In this approach, we need specialists in each of these three layers.

So a front end specialist typically would be well-versed in HTML,

CSS, and JavaScript.

The business logic specialist would be very first in one of

the technologies that is used for implementing the business logic and

then you need a data specialist who will be

very first in the relational database management system.

So there is an increasing trend towards using a single language,

to implement the entire stack, this being JavaScript.

So you could have the front end implemented, for

example, as a single page application using frameworks like Angular.

You have the server-side, or the business logic layer, being implemented

using technologies like NodeJS, which is also dependent on JavaScript.

And then you have the data storage itself being implemented using technologies

like MongoDB, which stores data in the form of JSON documents.

And the information exchange between the server side and

the client side, is usually done at using JSON as the format and

the server site supports a REST API at any part.

We will cover all these technologies as part of this specialization.

So as you go through this specialization,

you will see that on the presentation layer side, we will cover Bootstrap 4 and

Angular 4 implementing front end applications.

Then on the business logic layer, we will be using NodeJS and NodeJS modules.

And Express for implementing the business logic layer.

We'll also consider backend as a service.

And then the data support implemented using MongoDB.

As you go through the specialization, the various courses that you will

encounter in the specialization include that first course,

which deals with front-end web UI frameworks.

We will cover Bootstrap 4, in sufficient detail, in the very first course.

We'll also encounter web development tools.

Based around the NodeJS Ecosystem.

The second course will deal with front-end JavaScript frameworks,

in particular Angular in great detail.

In the third course, we will look at hybrid mobile development

using technologies like Ionic Framework and Cordova.

They're also considered native script as yet

another approach for doing hybrid mobile government in their fourth course.

The final course, of course, brings us to the server side.

We will look at server-side development using NodeJS,

NodeJS modules, Express, MongoDB, and

backend as a service, in particular using LoopBack framework.

This completes the entire full stack web development,

and hybrid mobile specialization.

[SOUND]

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